India’s unemployment rate hit a one-year high of 8.3 percent in August, as employment fell by 2 million sequentially to 394.6 million, according to data from the Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
During July, the unemployment rate stood at 6.8 percent and employment stood at 397 million, the CMIE data said.
“The urban unemployment rate is usually around 8 percent higher than the rural unemployment rate, which is usually around 7 percent. The urban unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent in August and the rural unemployment rate also increased to 7.7 percent in August,” CMIE Managing Director Mahesh Vyas told PTI.
Vyas further said that erratic rainfall affected sowing activities and this is one of the reasons for the increase in unemployment in rural India.
The unemployment rate in rural India rose from 6.1 percent in July to 7.7 percent in August. More importantly, the employment rate fell from 37.6 percent to 37.3 percent.
“Going forward, the rural unemployment rate may come down as a delay in monsoon will lead to an increase in agricultural activities towards the end of the monsoon season. However, it is not clear what the urban unemployment rate will be like in the coming months. At present, it is quite high,” said Vyas.
According to the data, during August, Haryana had the highest unemployment at 37.3 percent, followed by Jammu and Kashmir at 32.8 percent, Rajasthan at 31.4 percent, Jharkhand at 17.3 percent, and Tripura at 16.3 percent.
The data shows that unemployment was lowest in Chhattisgarh at 0.4 percent, Meghalaya at 2 percent, Maharashtra at 2.2 percent, and Gujarat and Odisha at 2.6 percent.
